Toronto – The Microsoft Surface tablet has gained a lot of praise from industry reviewers and analysts on how it innovatively attaches a keyboard.
The Surface’s Touch Cover, which comes in four colours (Blue, Pink, White & Black) and two types (tactile and thin), is priced at priced at $129. These Touch Covers magnetically-attached by clicking-on and off the Surface tablet. It can be used with the kick-stand that is on the back of the tablet. The kick-stand has three hinges, but how innovative is that?
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At the Samsung Canada showcase event in Toronto, executives from the South Korean-computing giant showed its own hybrid tablets called Smart PCs. Both the ATIV Smart PC Pro 700 T and the 500T can snap in a keyboard with the push of a button. The Smart PC can also snap-off just as easily. So what’s the difference?According to Jean-Paul Desmarais, marketing manager for Samsung Canada’s IT Solutions Business, the Smart PCs can be utilized as a clamshell notebook or a standalone tablet.
Desmarais added that design has become a big part of Samsung’s go-to-market strategy.
“Windows 8 established the PC business, but business users are looking for a better solution and it’s not always coming from strictly the technology side,” he said.
For Samsung design is just as important as the technology. The company has invested in seven design centres across the globe. They are based in London, Milan, Delhi, Shanghai, South Korea, Tokyo and Los Angeles. Desmarais said that these design centres are not outsourced because Samsung made a decision to have home grown industrial designers for better control.
One example of this is on its new ultrabooks. Samsung will offer a magnesium coloured product just at retail and just for the holiday buying period. These ultrabooks will have similar on-screen multi-touch capabilities but on the computer’s touchpad. Users can still swipe pages from side-to-side and pinch to enlarge or shorten.
As for the Smart PC keyboard the Samsung designers created a keyboard that can be used for traditional notebook computing so that users can have the full PC experience, while still being part of hybrid tablet.“The Smart PC keyboard has real keys. It’s not a touch pad. It’s not flimsy,” Desmarais said.
He added that business users can make the Smart PC Pro 700 a desktop replacement because it sports an Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD drive.
“This is a business ready device where people can move from office to meeting room and back.”